


The Flesh Lies

by Enochia



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - All Fandoms, Thor (2011)
Genre: Canon Genderbending, Gen, Genderless, Genderqueer, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-04
Updated: 2012-09-04
Packaged: 2017-11-13 13:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enochia/pseuds/Enochia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mostly based on movieverse with a little bit of comicverse and mythology. On shapeshifting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flesh Lies

**Author's Note:**

> This silly idea came into my mind a couple of days ago and would not leave me be. Combine it with insomnia and here I am writing a ficlet while deadlines for bigger projects are ticking away.

In reality, xe thinks not of xirself in terms of gender or age. Xe simply takes the form that is the most convenient one.

True, xe was born as a male, and xe has grown to an adult as such; but xe is also a being of magic. And magic is stretching the limit of what the rest of the world sees as real. The further one can deny the boundaries the mundane seeks to impose, the further one’s power grows - and xir power is great indeed. Xe shed the chains the flesh imposes long ago.

They are all enjoyable in their way, the skins. To swim in the depths without coming for breath, water sliding against scales; to run across the plains with abandon and leap over chasms with grace only two legs would never allow; to play on shores, in and out of water as you please, as long as you want; to fly through smallest spaces, easily overlooked by everyone; these are delights the body xe was granted upon birth would never allow. But even the form of Aesir is malleable enough to enjoy; to be a child and escape suspicion and harsh punishment; to imagine Amora’s lovely visage turning sour at the sight of one who can match her beauty and skill; to reap benefits of reverence bestowed upon a crone.

Yet xe remembers the condescension Sif got until she was accepted as equal to any male warrior - and she is hardly free of it even now. Xe recalls how adults ignored xir words when xir form was that of a child, no matter how true. And xe knows of disgust, fear and loathing anthropomorphs feel for any being that can talk and think but isn’t one of them. So xe sticks to the form they are used to, and they forget it’s a lie - sometimes, even xe forgets.

And then there is _the other form_ , the only one xe loathes, like a hypocrite xe knows xe is; for that form is embodiment of a deception upon xirself, larger than any xe ever contrived. It is betrayal shaped as flesh, and as much as gazing upon xir in it would hurt others, xe knows it would hurt xir even more; therefore, xe never even contemplates assuming it.

But oh, how tempting it is sometimes, to shift, to cause discomfort in narrow-minded fools! Yet xe refrained in Asgard for it would serve not xir purposes, as tempting it would have been to see Fandral get a nasty surprise the morning after a night of debauchery. Xe almost decides to try and invoke camaraderie in Sif to get close to her, but xe fears Thor would recognise xir; and xe knows Sif would not understand that xe is as much female as xe is male and would seek bloody retribution, thinking xe was playing a prank. As, child, xe would get pushed aside. As animal, xe would be in danger of being hunted.

Xe almost shifts when brought in front of Fury, craving to toy with minds of Midgardians: how would their instincts respond to voluptuous temptress or innocuous child in the place of the face they learned to loathe? Yet xe stops in the last moment, for xe has observed them a little and knows that condescension would be even worse than in Asgard. Oh, xe is not beyond making xirself seem harmless; but for some reason being underestimated due to a carefully crafted artifice and simply due to one’s form feel like completely different things to xir. The latter makes xir inexplicably disgusted and even more resolute to turn the world upside-down.

And thus xe wears the old mask still and longs for freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> Testing. Testing.


End file.
